The physics of the neutrino mechanism of core-collapse supernovae

Abstract

Although it is known that the stalled accretion shock in models of core-collapse supernovae turns into explosion when the neutrino luminosity from the proto-neutron star (PNS) exceeds a critical value (Lcritν,core) (the "neutrino mechanism"), the physics of Lcritν,core has never been systematically explored. We solve the accretion problem between the PNS surface and the accretion shock. We quantify the deep connection between the general problem of accretion flows with bounding shocks and the neutrino mechanism. In particular, we show that there is a maximum, critical sound speed above which the shock jump conditions cannot be satisfied and steady-state accretion is impossible. This physics is general and does not depend on a specific heating mechanism. For the simple model of pressure-less free fall onto a shock bounding an isothermal accretion flow, we show that shock solutions are possible only for sound speed c T